History Creator / MarxBrothers

* ''Film/MonkeyBusiness'' (1931)
* ''Film/HorseFeathers'' (1932)

* ''Film/ANightAtTheOpera'' (1935) — The first of their five films for MGM.

* In the team's vaudeville days, Groucho originally played a German-accented character; but he was often booed for it (there was a [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarI World War]] going on) and so became the fast-talking "authority figure", and possibly the king of wordplay. It was he who uttered those immortal lines, "One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got in my pajamas, I don't know." However, one of the absolute best-known of his lines is something [[BeamMeUpScotty he actually never said]] — a [[http://www.snopes.com/radiotv/tv/grouchocigar.asp supposed comment]] to a woman with lots of children who appeared on ''Series/YouBetYourLife''; according to the claim, in response to the woman saying "I love my husband" as the reason for her many children, Groucho said, "I love my cigar, too, but I take it out once in a while." Pretty racy stuff, for the 1950s. If he had actually said it. Which he didn't.

* FriendToAllChildren: Harpo, because he practically ''was'' a child himself. Reportedly, he was fond of kids in real life, too, having adopted four with his wife.

The family had five brothers, although only four (and later three) performed together at a given time. According to interviews Groucho gave late in his life, their stage names reflected personal traits or important events in their lives, and were inspired by a comic strip called ''Sherlocko the Monk'', which triggered a brief rash of nicknames ending in "-o".

* PretextForWar: ''Duck Soup'' is about the fictional country ''Freedonia'' declaring war essentially just because of bankruptcy and personal slights. Some of which were hypothetical slights that didn't actually happen, at that.[[note]]This was even more blatant in the original script in which Firefly is an ''ammunition salesman'' and pretty much starts a war just to drive up sales, but the producers eventually decided to remove that particular angle from the story.[[/note]]

* PretextForWar: ''Duck Soup'' is about the fictional country ''Freedonia'' declaring war essentially just because of bankruptcy and personal slights. Some of which were hypothetical slights that didn't actually happen, at that.

** In real life, he was quite intelligent, but not very well-educated as he had quit school early on, which could lead to this. In one incident recalled in his autobiography, he came up with a brilliant plan to outwit Alexander Wolcott in a murder mystery game, but gave himself away by misspelling the word "dead" (since everyone else there was highly educated, Wolcott knew that only Harpo would make such a mistake).

* DoWrongRight: Being entirely self-taught, Harpo [[AchievementsInIgnorance inadvertently learned the harp ''backwards.'' (he put it on the wrong shoulder -- then saw a greeting card with an angel holding it the right way.) After he became successful, he tried to take lessons to learn how to do it the right way, but his teachers were all too enraptured by his playing to ever instruct him. The one exception was [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNFtRU_c2Ec Mildred Dilling]], who broke him of a lot of bad habits and coached him in certain songs he wanted to learn. When he got stuck he would call her up and she'd pull her harp over next to the phone and they'd play back and forth until he could correct the problem. In other cases, he was asked to share his technique with formally-trained harpists, which he found entirely impossible.

* DoWrongRight: Being entirely self-taught, Harpo inadvertently learned the harp ''backwards.'' (he put it on the wrong shoulder -- then saw a greeting card with an angel holding it the right way.) After he became successful, he tried to take lessons to learn how to do it the right way, but his teachers were all too enraptured by his playing to ever instruct him. The one exception was [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNFtRU_c2Ec Mildred Dilling]], who broke him of a lot of bad habits and coached him in certain songs he wanted to learn. When he got stuck he would call her up and she'd pull her harp over next to the phone and they'd play back and forth until he could correct the problem. In other cases, he was asked to share his technique with formally-trained harpists, which he found entirely impossible.

[[AC:The Marx Brothers' TV appearences:]]

* Harpo appeared solo in exactly one film, a 1925 silent comedy called ''Film/TooManyKisses''.

* ''Room Service'' (1938) — Their only film for RKO, and their only film not written especially for them (it was adapted from a popular Broadway play in which they did ''not'' star). The female lead is an obscure B-movie actress named Creator/LucilleBall.

* MagnumOpusDissonance: While the general consensus is that ''Film/DuckSoup'' was their best film, Groucho felt ''Film/ANightAtTheOpera'' was better. This is a minor example, though, as both movies are highly regarded.

** TheChick: Margaret Dumont (or equivalent)

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

* In the team's vaudeville days, Groucho originally played a German-accented character; but he was often booed for it (there was a [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarI World War]] going on) and so became the fast-talking "authority figure", and possibly the king of wordplay. It was he who uttered those immortal lines, "Once I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got in my pajamas, I don't know." However, one of the absolute best-known of his lines is something [[BeamMeUpScotty he actually never said]] — a [[http://www.snopes.com/radiotv/tv/grouchocigar.asp supposed comment]] to a woman with lots of children who appeared on ''Series/YouBetYourLife''; according to the claim, in response to the woman saying "I love my husband" as the reason for her many children, Groucho said, "I love my cigar, too, but I take it out once in a while." Pretty racy stuff, for the 1950s. If he had actually said it. Which he didn't.

* SpiritualSuccessor: ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' and ''Creator/MontyPython'' are probably the closest comparison, with some of Creator/WoodyAllen's early films also bearing a resemblance.

* In the team's vaudeville days, Groucho originally played a German-accented character; but he was often booed for it (there was a [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarI World War]] going on) and so became the fast-talking "authority figure", and possibly the king of wordplay. It was he who uttered those immortal lines, "Once I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got in my pajamas, I don't know." However, one of the absolute best-known of his lines is something [[BeamMeUpScotty he actually never said]] — a [[http://www.snopes.com/radiotv/tv/grouchocigar.asp supposed comment]] to a woman with lots of children who appeared on ''Series/YouBetYourLife''; according to the claim, in response to the woman saying "I love my husband" as the reason for her many children, Groucho said, "I love my cigar, too, but I take it out once in a while." Pretty racy stuff, for the 1950s.

* Harpo originally spoofed an Irish Bruiser in the early vaudeville days, but later developed his trademark pantomime, "speaking" only through whistling, charades, and honking a horn. (In RealLife, Harpo actually had a pleasant baritone voice,[[note]]you can hear it [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-jom2aaOS0 here;]] he sounds like younger brother Groucho lowered an octave or two[[/note]] and was described as talkative and intelligent; among his friends were Alexander Woolcott and Creator/GeorgeBernardShaw. He, like Woolcott, was a member of the Algonquin Round Table.) He was the clown of the group — okay, they all were, to a point, but he was the kind of clown you’d find in a circus (albeit without the face paint). He'd ''literally'' chase women, randomly snip off people's ties and other things with scissors, eat random objects, and produce unlikely items from his pockets and tattoos.

* Harpo originally spoofed an Irish Bruiser in the early vaudeville days, but later developed his trademark pantomime, "speaking" only through whistling, charades, and honking a horn. (In RealLife, Harpo actually had a pleasant baritone voice, and was described as talkative and intelligent; among his friends were Alexander Woolcott and Creator/GeorgeBernardShaw. He, like Woolcott, was a member of the Algonquin Round Table.) He was the clown of the group — okay, they all were, to a point, but he was the kind of clown you’d find in a circus (albeit without the face paint). He'd ''literally'' chase women, randomly snip off people's ties and other things with scissors, eat random objects, and produce unlikely items from his pockets and tattoos.

* They are in no way related to Communist philosopher Creator/KarlMarx, despite humorist Richard Armour's assertion that Karl was the funniest of the brothers, nor are they related to musician Music/RichardMarx.[[note]]Marx is not an unusual surname among Jews of German extraction. Their father was actually a French-speaking Alsatian, who'd changed his name from Simon Marrix to Sam Marx.[[/note]] Also, [[Franchise/TheMuppets Gonzo]] was never the name of one of the brothers. Nor was [[https://www.drano.com/en-us Drano]]. They're also not related to Sadie Marks, who would later become famous as Mary Livingstone of ''Radio/TheJackBennyProgram'', though Zeppo ''was'' instrumental in introducing her to Jack Benny, as Zeppo was a mutual friend who had invited Benny to a Passover seder that she was also attending.

* They are in no way related to Creator/KarlMarx, author of ''The Communist Manifesto'', despite humorist Richard Armour's assertion that Karl was the funniest of the brothers, nor are they related to musician Music/RichardMarx.[[note]]Marx is not an unusual surname among Jews of German extraction. Their father was actually a French-speaking Alsatian, who'd changed his name from Simon Marrix to Sam Marx.[[/note]] Also, [[Franchise/TheMuppets Gonzo]] was never the name of one of the brothers. Nor was [[https://www.drano.com/en-us Drano]]. They're also not related to Sadie Marks, who would later become famous as Mary Livingstone of ''Radio/TheJackBennyProgram'', though Zeppo ''was'' instrumental in introducing her to Jack Benny, as Zeppo was a mutual friend who had invited Benny to a Passover seder that she was also attending.

** Even though he doesn't speak, Harpo occasionally gets in on the gag with objects. The most memorable is probably in ''Horse Feathers'', when he drops a live seal on Groucho's desk because Groucho and Chico were looking for "the seal".

* Gummo (Milton Marx; October 23, 1893 – April 21, 1977), nicknamed for the sneaky, or "gumshoe", way he had of walking around backstage, or a pair of galoshes ("gumshoes") he had as a child. Having a lifelong dislike of being onstage, Gummo left the act right before it became famous to join the army during UsefulNotes/WorldWarI, although he was never sent to Europe due to the war ending shortly afterwards. Zeppo, who until then was considered too young to be in the act, took his place. Like Zeppo, he later became a manager for his siblings and other talent, but he kept at it longer than his younger sibling. He died four months before Groucho, with the latter not being informed of his death in fear of making his already frail health worse; as such, only Zeppo attended his funeral at the Freedom Mausoleum in Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Gummo is buried just across the hall from his brother Chico). According to Wiki/ThatOtherWiki, the contemporary actor Gregg Marx is his grandson.

* ''The Big Store'' (1941) — The last of their five films for MGM, and the last to feature Margaret Dumont. The brothers announced their TenMinuteRetirement from film after this (with Groucho moving into radio and, later, television).

* ''Go West'' (1940)